The seventh game of an NHL season is far too early for a team to be approaching must-win territory.
But considering what awaits the New York Islanders in their eighth game, it’s a good thing they won Friday night.
The Islanders will look to complete a back-to-back sweep of Eastern Conference contenders on Saturday night when they host the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in Elmont, N.Y.
The Islanders squandered three one-goal leads against the host New Jersey Devils on Friday before Bo Horvat scored 1:09 into overtime to cap a 4-3 win.
The Panthers, in turn, are coming off a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday.
The Islanders’ up-and-down game was symbolic of an inconsistent start to the season for New York, which has been shut out three times and scored at least four goals in each of its other four contests.
Getting goals from four players in an overtime win was doubly encouraging for the Islanders, who will be without first-line left winger Anthony Duclair for four to six weeks due to a lower-body injury.
The Islanders’ three regulation goals Friday were a result of being aggressively near the net. Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri scored the first and third goal, respectively, by redirecting shots by defensemen Adam Pelech and Alexander Romanov. In between, captain Anders Lee scored after putting back the rebound of a shot by Noah Dobson.
“We were trying to get more pucks and bodies towards the net,” Horvat said. “Guys were getting sticks on it. They weren’t pretty goals by any means tonight — just making the right plays at the right time, getting to the dirty areas. And you get rewarded for that.”
The victory also improved the Islanders to 2-2 in games decided beyond regulation.
“Feels good to get the win in a divisional game like this,” Horvat said. “Obviously would have liked to finish that one off in regulation, but glad we got it done.”
The Panthers got things done in impressive fashion on both sides of the ice Thursday, when they scored twice before the Rangers recorded a shot. Anton Lundell and Carter Verhaeghe scored in the first 2:42 of the opening period for Florida, which entered Thursday with just one first-period goal in its previous four games.
“We just really wanted to defend first and hope the offense would come and it did,” Panthers left winger Matthew Tkachuk said. “It came early. Playing with the lead was crucial for us.”
Alexis Lafreniere scored at the 4:44 mark of the first for the Rangers, but Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky stopped the final 23 shots he faced to become the fastest goalie in NHL history to reach 400 wins.
With the win, the Panthers improved to 4-0-1 this season against teams that made the playoffs last season. Florida also defeated the Rangers for the first time since dispatching them in six games in the Eastern Conference finals.
“We just beat a really good team — a really balanced team, good goalie, good defense, good forwards, good power play,” Bobrovsky said. “It’s a big moment for us — an important moment to build the chemistry and the confidence in the locker room for the season.”
